Saturday, 30 March 2013

*One of my India pics, taken in Pushkar, the holiest city in the country*

I returned from India unscathed! Sadly, I wasn’t able to go
to Thailand, for personal reasons totally out of my own control. However, I
will go one day, so I have to turn my frown upside down and just save some more
pennies.

So I’ve been thinking a lot recently… And I’ve made the
decision to call an end to HauteFuture. I know this is probably quite
surprising, as my blog is the thing I have been most passionate about since I
started it a couple of years ago. However, I’ve found that I’ve basically
outgrown it and that I’ve totally lost sight of why exactly I started
HauteFuture in the first place!

*Photograph taken before a posh dinner out with all of my uni friends when we handed in out dissertations*

Two years ago, I set up HauteFuture because I wanted
fiercely to become a women’s lifestyle journalist for some kind of top magazine
like Marie Claire or Vogue. I am still really passionate about writing and have
never been someone to turn away a good magazine. However, I’m not quite sure
that having a blog like HauteFuture is what’s going to get me there, or help me
further develop the skills I’ve learned in the process of blogging.

Blogging quickly became about celebritizing myself. I would
panic if I hadn’t blogged in a week because how
would my readers get by if they didn’t know about my terrible lipstick
malfunction?! What if they went and bought that same lipstick and experienced
the same disaster?! It was my responsibility, nay, my duty to TELL THEM THE TRUTH. The honest fact of it is, that there
are about a hundred other girls in the UK who have written exactly the same
review as I would have done, and guess what? No-one really cared! No-one got
handed a top London magazine internship for publishing the same uninteresting
twaddle that I was angsting about and yet I carried on doing it. For what?

*Just about to head out last year to scout bands for my dad's local music festival*

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE writing, more than the next person. I would love to be a novelist and
between you and me, I have started writing up somewhat of an autobiographical
novel just for the fun of it. Plus, I’ve written freelance pieces for my local
newspaper in the past year or so which have felt like brilliant, albeit minor,
achievements. But what made me think that reviewing moisturizer improved my
writing skills in any way? How was I ever going to do what I ultimately want to
do, and make money from my space of internet? I wasn’t. And before you ask, no,
it isn’t all about the money. But realistically, I, like many bloggers out
there, started my page because it was the easier alternative to breaking into
the impenetrable career of magazine journalism. But what pays the bills?

Having had time to think, I cringe at how much I made
blogging all about getting followers and building up my lists of ‘fans’. I have
been known to spend HOURS at a time, desperately tweeting and
facebook-statusing my link to people who quite frankly, couldn’t care less
about what I thought of the latest mascara. If someone unfollowed my blog, I
would automatically hate them, even though I didn’t know who they were! A
friend of mine even showed me how to monitor my readers by locating them in the
world, working out how they had found me and even how long they had spent on my
page before getting bored. Now, I know that running a successful website and a
blog in particular is all about maintaining a healthy amount of reader traffic,
but when you are spending more time trying to hunt for new readers and
constantly feeling like the things you write are worthless because you only got
three comments per day, I think you’ve slightly lost sight of why you started
the page to begin with.

*At my graduation*

For the past few months I haven’t liked the way the women's lifestyle blogging
world is going and that’s the honest truth. Anyone who is anyone has a blog,
and the majority of those in the UK are in the sectors of beauty and fashion. The lack of creativity with blog posts
that have popped up on my blogger dash has made me think, ‘Why do I even bother
writing original posts when there are bloggers out there doing nothing more
than the generic Instagram, Glossybox and 20 Questions posts who are ranking more
followers than me???’ And even after spending so long musing over it, I still
don’t have an answer to that question.

Since realizing that I didn’t want to be ‘just another beauty
blogger’ I started trying to veer away from beauty and branch out into other
areas, like travel, food and film and I really enjoyed it! In fact, I enjoyed
it more than I think I ever enjoyed beauty blogging and vlogging. I just assumed
initially, that because I love beauty products I would love writing about them.
But when you realize you’re not really fulfilling any kind of niche, and are
just providing more noise in an already noisy environment, it makes you feel
kind of redundant. There are girls out there who are great at beauty blogging
or fashion blogging and I salute them. I am just not one of them.

*On the way to my first 'grown up' job since graduating*

HauteFuture has served me well. I practiced my writing in a
safe place, set up a successful page with HTML that I never even knew existed
and I made lots of friends in the process. This reminds me to say, that I have
respect for every beauty blogger out there, even those who like posting
Instagram, Glossybox and 20 Questions posts. I actually really enjoy reading posts like
this, I just didn’t like being a part of the culture which made me feel like
these kinds of posts are the only things that would define me as being a true part of the community.

At the end of the day, without meaning to sound arrogant, I
feel like I’ve gotten everything that I can from HauteFuture and to carry on
would be denial.

*In San Francisco last summer*

So, what’s next? Am I going to stop blogging entirely? Of
course I won’t, I’m not sure if I will ever stop blogging! After all, in spite
of feeling like it is time to move on, having HauteFuture as a record of my
past couple of years is a great memento! So if not here, where will I be
blogging, I hear you ask, and why am I moving, what will be different?

Well, my latest venture is going to be called The NW
Midlander and will be another Blogger-hosted page. The NW Midlander will be all
about what the North West and the Midlands have to offer, as I have noticed
that there are so many blogs out there about how great living in London is but
none about how great the North West and Midlands are! And they are, trust me. Sure, there will be foreign
travel updates, book and movie reviews
and social networking tutorials (and maybe even the odd women's lifestyle posts...), but mostly you will be able to find beautiful
photography, food posts which will make you drool and stay-cation reviews which
will make you consider the North West and Midlands for your summer holiday
needs.

Once The NW Midlander is available to view I will pop the
link on here, but until then this is goodbye! Thank you to everyone who has
stood by me and supported me in my blogging. I really appreciate your loyalty, but now, onto new horizons!

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Although it is slow moving, I AM still planning on setting up my own business this year (as laid-out in my New Years' Resolution post) and unsurprisingly, it will involve makeup! So, I've been trying out a few different brands which I wouldn't normally have purchased from and Daniel Sandler has been one of them. If you don't know about Daniel Sandler then you're missing out, because he is a top makeup artist with his own line of makeup products which are every blogger's dream! His Watercolour Blushes are currently on most bloggers' must-buy lists if not already a much-loved product in their makeup kit. I'm yet to purchase one, but they're on the top of my list for when I get back from my travels...

Anyway, I decided to buy a variety of foundation colours to try out and thankfully, Daniel Sandler's website was offering these little 15ml pots for just £2.50 from £9.50! What a bargain eh? I've only photographed seven, but I actually bought eight... the eighth is in my makeup bag as I am absolutely in love with it.

Saturday, 9 February 2013

I'm loving the fact that Spring fashions are slowly seeping onto the shop floors, really I am. But something inside me misses the glitters which covered our Winter 2012 fashions, so I thought I'd throw together this sparkly little blogpost as a review AND a reminisce.

I managed to snap these Topshop glitters up in the sales in January and although I'm not 100% sure how I will be using them, I can't help myself from twisting the top of them periodically just to watch them twinkle!

*So pretty!*

The loose powders come in these little pots with sprinkle tops attached (like you get in talcum powder). However, I took the sprinkle tops off as they just get in the way as far as I'm concerned! I got all four of these powders for just £4 and I think they are so gorgeous...

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

I love going to the cinema. Literally, I love it. Buying the tickets, bickering with myself over whether to choose nachos or popcorn then inevitably going for both and watching the trailers all make my cinema experience one worth repeating every fortnight or so. And so far, 2013, has been a great year for films! Some weeks there have been two or three that I have wanted to see, and I already have a few on my list which are being released later in the year.

*I LOVE singing-related puns... Smack my PITCH up*

Anyway, I wanted to give a quick shout-out to one of my favorite films of January. Pitch Perfect (2013) is something between Easy A and Glee... only, imagine that all of those characters are in university and so are automatically more hilarious and more talented.

Sunday, 3 February 2013

I know I haven't posted much about my travels so far and my flight date has been creeping up on me much faster than I had expected, so I'm not going to be able to write too much before I head off. That being said, I figured I would just let you know what my itinerary is so that y'all can seethe in jealousy while I'm away :p Just joking! A little bit...

Anyway, here are my plans!

***

8th February - I fly to Delhi India... I'm booked on a 9am(ish) flight from Heathrow with Etihad. I've never flown with them before, so it should be an experience worth blogging about! I will be flying to Abu Dhabi first where I need to change onto my Delhi flight, hopefully everything will be signposted so I don't get too lost.

Monday, 28 January 2013

I hate shopping at the best of times. There, I said it. But the January sales in particular drive me up the wall. Why should I enjoy battling through chaos in the local shopping centre, fighting my way past nutters who have been up since some ungodly hour just so they could be first in line to blitz their way through a horrific mess of seasons-old clothes which are still overpriced in spite of their offensively unavoidable red signs promising 'up to' 50% OFF!?! I find the red signs unsettling, alarming even. The amount of people in the shops who are downright aggressive needs policing more efficiently! Why are the clothes never tidy, or organized, or even *gasp* in a good condition? Why do brands think I am dumb enough to ignore the 'From £60 to £58' tags on the item and only pay attention to the horrifically misleading, 'up to 70% OFF' sign in the shop window, with 'up to' in the smallest font known to humanity *ahem, TOPSHOP, ahem*? If I didn't want the shoes over a year ago when they were priced at the same 'bargain' price of £30 why the hell would I want them now??? I absolutely do not want to go and waste my Christmas gift vouchers on things I would never normally buy if they were full priced, so why on earth do some shops completely clear their floors of new stock, just to shove the old stuff which nobody wants down my throat???

Sunday, 27 January 2013

Just a couple of months ago I reviewed Ted Baker's Workshop Accessories line here so they reached out to me to say, "Thank You". I think that is so sweet because brands don't often offer thanks when you write nice things about them... its something which would be so easy for them to do, and yet, as not many of them do it, those that do really stand out. On top of the, "Thank You" email, they asked me to send them my home address, so on Thursday, I received this lovely package in the post...

Saturday, 26 January 2013

Apologies for my Blog Silence for the past week or so, but I have been doing work experience in Conde Nast Traveller magazine's advertising department! I did work experience in their editorial department back in 2010 and I've managed to keep in touch with one of the top dogs on the mag, so when a work experience girl dropped out before her last week was completed in the advertising offices, he mentioned it to me. Like everybody else, I had to send my CV in and wait. Thankfully though, my wait wasn't too long and within a day I was hunting for London accommodation and booking my trains.

Friday, 18 January 2013

I spotted a hashtag recently on Twitter called '#FMFParty' and as I hate not being invited to a party, I decided to click and find out what I was missing out on. I am so glad I clicked on the hashtag now! Basically, the deal is simple, every Friday, LisaJo Baker posts a prompt word on her blog for us all to whip up a bit of creative writing about. You only get five minutes to write and you aren't allowed to go back or change anything. It is kind of a stream-of-consciousness writing challenge which I love! I've loved writing since I was a very little girl and it is something which I practice regularly, especially as I'd like to try and get a novel published before the time I am 23... a bit ambitious I know, but that gives me just over a year so maybe I can manage. Plus, a bit of ambition never hurt anyone. Anyway, on with the challenge. The word we have been provided with is 'Cherished' so here goes...

Thursday, 17 January 2013

I'm forever receiving tiny skincare samples from fab companies in the post, but without sounding ungrateful, they clutter up my room something rotten! This doesn't usually bother me unless I know that each of the samples are right towards the end of their use... they don't have much product remaining in the tube and I am struggling to squeeze the remains out. So what do I do? Create a SUPER-PRODUCT, that's what!

I had a couple of empty pots left over from previous products, so I washed them out and decanted a mixture of products into them. My favorite pot at the moment has the products above in it and it is currently working wonders for my skin!